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How far would you go to research your bus??
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mynameismud
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 18, 2005 3:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i have gone so far as to not only talk to the woman that i purchased it from, but also her son (who was the actual owner- but lives 300 miles from her). From the mother I was able to find out a ton of info of when and where her father in-law had purchased my bus, but when and why. i was hoping to find some stashed paperwork of the theater he had owned, but they did too good of a job when cleaning it out. so i asked the woman, if she recalled the theaters name, after tracking down where it was located i called the local library to inquire about it (it was in a small town of 1200). they were able to provide me with it. i have yet to trace the history to before he purchased it - but from what i was told it was used as a school bus in texas in 56. i haven't gotten a birth certificate yet to find out its destination after the factory.
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abuspilot
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 8:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Was hanging out in my garage this evening and thought I should try and call owner number two. Got a guy on the phone and thought it was a wrong number but he asked me what the call was about so I told him. He says, it was my grand parents that owned the vw. They had it a long time and used it all the time. They belonged to a camping club called the "Racoon Ramblers", the club would do a campout one wknd every month. He used to play in it all the time and loved it. Never recalled a rack or tent though. Crying or Very sad I asked about any old photos and he said he hasn't had a chance to go through any of the old photos. BTW, his grandmother passed away 2yrs ago, if I had got off my ass and called her I could have probably gotten some good stories and other details o'well. Cool thing was he was interested in talking about so, I sent him some photos. Hopefully, in the near future I'll be posting some original pics. Until then my fingers are crossed.
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bill may
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 07, 2008 11:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

6 houses from mine. i am second owner. after original owner died i gave his son $25 for it. 3 years 20,000 miles ago.
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Andrew
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 11:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I found the OG owners name and address in a stack of receipts that I got with my bus, so I sent him a letter asking him to call me or e-mail me and included my phone number and e-mail address. He did and I got a couple original photos of my bus from when it was new. He also sent me an e-mail about a year ago saying he had come across the original window sticker for my bus and that I was welcome to have it next time I got up that way (he lives 3 hours away or so). I'm waiting until I can get up there driving the bus to go pick it up.
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Major Woody
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 12:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This is a neat thread to read.

I did not have to do any searching at all, since I bought ours from the original owner. When I got it, he included photos of the bus on its first campout, the original invoice, even the original "VW Of America" insurance declarations page. Very cool but zero effort required.
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grumpyveedub
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 12:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i have the vin and title (now Arkansas) to my 61 and know that the last registered person was in Kansas. anyone have any idea where to start? is it as simple as calling a DMV office in Kansas and telling them i want to track down previous owners of my vw?

i would love to get in touch with the original owner (or family) and past owners. from the looks of my paint job (white and hot pink metallic) it was last driven in the 80's.
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obus Premium Member
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 1:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

grumpyveedub wrote:
i have the vin and title (now Arkansas) to my 61 and know that the last registered person was in Kansas. anyone have any idea where to start? is it as simple as calling a DMV office in Kansas and telling them i want to track down previous owners of my vw?

i would love to get in touch with the original owner (or family) and past owners. from the looks of my paint job (white and hot pink metallic) it was last driven in the 80's.


in todays environment i would hope they don't give out any kind of info so freely. I don't think New Jersey does. I just found out a few nights back that the title i got for my bus 2 owners back had passed away this past April. He was a veteranarian and his family ran a store in Columbia,Missouri for years called "Streets". The obit sounded like they had a nice family.
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abuspilot
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 1:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Andrew wrote:
I found the OG owners name and address in a stack of receipts that I got with my bus, so I sent him a letter asking him to call me or e-mail me and included my phone number and e-mail address. He did and I got a couple original photos of my bus from when it was new. He also sent me an e-mail about a year ago saying he had come across the original window sticker for my bus and that I was welcome to have it next time I got up that way (he lives 3 hours away or so). I'm waiting until I can get up there driving the bus to go pick it up.


I would strongly recommend not waiting if you really want it. Personally if it was me I would have been in the car picking it up the following wknd after his e-mail. I would sure suck to know it was a stones throw away only to find out it was burned in a house fire, og owner passed away, etc.... you get the idea. Good luck and hope you get it.
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campingbox Premium Member
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 1:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

abuspilot wrote:
Andrew wrote:
I found the OG owners name and address in a stack of receipts that I got with my bus, so I sent him a letter asking him to call me or e-mail me and included my phone number and e-mail address. He did and I got a couple original photos of my bus from when it was new. He also sent me an e-mail about a year ago saying he had come across the original window sticker for my bus and that I was welcome to have it next time I got up that way (he lives 3 hours away or so). I'm waiting until I can get up there driving the bus to go pick it up.


I would strongly recommend not waiting if you really want it. Personally if it was me I would have been in the car picking it up the following wknd after his e-mail. I would sure suck to know it was a stones throw away only to find out it was burned in a house fire, og owner passed away, etc.... you get the idea. Good luck and hope you get it.


I called the original owner of my '56 Westy a few weeks ago and got a call back from his daughter telling me he passed away in October. I had talked to her father several years ago about the bus and wished I had called more often. His daughter was eager to talk about the bus and said she had a whole slew of photos she would send me. They owned the bus from 1955 through the mid '60'ies. I've been trying to make contact with the owner who owned it from 1968 through 1993 and he hasn't returned my calls. I'll get through eventually.....although it might be in person once the bus is finished.
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grumpyveedub
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 2:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

obus wrote:
grumpyveedub wrote:
i have the vin and title (now Arkansas) to my 61 and know that the last registered person was in Kansas. anyone have any idea where to start? is it as simple as calling a DMV office in Kansas and telling them i want to track down previous owners of my vw?

i would love to get in touch with the original owner (or family) and past owners. from the looks of my paint job (white and hot pink metallic) it was last driven in the 80's.


in todays environment i would hope they don't give out any kind of info so freely. I don't think New Jersey does. I just found out a few nights back that the title i got for my bus 2 owners back had passed away this past April. He was a veteranarian and his family ran a store in Columbia,Missouri for years called "Streets". The obit sounded like they had a nice family.


well email sent to the kansas DMV, guess that is the best place to start. i will hit up my local DMV office, maybe they can help.
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grumpyveedub
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 2:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Florida - http://www.flhsmv.gov/data/past.html
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Andrew
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 5:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

abuspilot wrote:
Andrew wrote:
I found the OG owners name and address in a stack of receipts that I got with my bus, so I sent him a letter asking him to call me or e-mail me and included my phone number and e-mail address. He did and I got a couple original photos of my bus from when it was new. He also sent me an e-mail about a year ago saying he had come across the original window sticker for my bus and that I was welcome to have it next time I got up that way (he lives 3 hours away or so). I'm waiting until I can get up there driving the bus to go pick it up.


I would strongly recommend not waiting if you really want it. Personally if it was me I would have been in the car picking it up the following wknd after his e-mail. I would sure suck to know it was a stones throw away only to find out it was burned in a house fire, og owner passed away, etc.... you get the idea. Good luck and hope you get it.


That is a very good point, I think I'll send him an e-mail... I straight up don't have time to go up there anytime soon because of school kicking my ass, but I'll at least send an e-mail and see how things are going.
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67 Florida Deluxe
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 8:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

There are only three prior owners of my bus. Only recently did I finally get the time and presence of mind to try and track down the original owner who ordered the bus at a San Francisco dealership and took tourist delivery in Germany. Sadly, I was too late. By the time I tracked down his locale, I discovered he had died only a few days prior Sad . (So don't wait if you have the chance to contact a prior owner Smile !) Fortunately, he left a brief typed synopsis of his ownership and every original document for the bus (except repair receipts). It was very apparent by his writeup that he really loved this bus and thankfully, the documentation survived subsequent ownerships and I have it safe and sound in my house.

When I bought the bus, I talked at length to the third owner about her ownership stint. She really loved this bus, too, having driven her two kids on a trek from Florida to Nova Scotia, staying at campgrounds along the way and back and thoroughly enjoying the bus as it was meant to be enjoyed. Unfortunately, the second owner is unknown to me. All I know is that he/she lived in or around Pinellas County (St. Petersbug/Clearwater), Florida and they took the bus to Bug Jam in 1991, as evidenced by photos posted by SHSC last year when I bought the bus.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Here's a slight glimpse of the bus with the tent set up (to the extreme right)

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


The lady I bought the bus from owned it from about 1993 until September 2007 when I bought it. I wish I could find out who owned it in 1991 when it went to Bug Jam. I missed out on talking to the original owner, but if I could at least talk to the second owner, I would have a pretty complete history.

I think it really enhances the overall enjoyment and pride of ownership to have as complete a history as possible - especially when it's evident that each owner enjoyed and loved the bus as much as you do Wink .
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malachai
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 6:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

various peoples wrote:
some stuff


its quite spooky that almost all of our cars were owned by people who are now dead, especially coming up to haloween, well I think it is anyway, I bet this kind of thing never comes up on 2003 volvo forums does it?

I drove past a bloke at a petrol station once in my bus and he said he used to have one "with all these little roof windows" and he still has some roof racks if I want them, obviously I went round to his house the next weekend to pick them up, they were fairly arse roofracks but I asked him if he had any photos of his old bus and we talked about them for a while and he told me how he made bits for the inside and how they drove around europe in it and such, I think most people will be happy to talk to you about them, this old bloke was cool but he only showed me photos of a 68 bay window, not a samba
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 8:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

malachai wrote:
its quite spooky that almost all of our cars were owned by people who are now dead, especially coming up to haloween, well I think it is anyway, I bet this kind of thing never comes up on 2003 volvo forums does it?

Well, if you have a car (or bus) that was first sold in, say, 1956, that was 52 years ago. Add ~20 to 50 + years to that to get the age of the original owner.
It doesn't seem so odd if they aren't around anymore.

So follow up any leads you have!
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malachai
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 10:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Clara wrote:
malachai wrote:
its quite spooky that almost all of our cars were owned by people who are now dead, especially coming up to haloween, well I think it is anyway, I bet this kind of thing never comes up on 2003 volvo forums does it?

Well, if you have a car (or bus) that was first sold in, say, 1956, that was 52 years ago. Add ~20 to 50 + years to that to get the age of the original owner.
It doesn't seem so odd if they aren't around anymore.

So follow up any leads you have!


I didn't mean spooky as in odd I meant just like "woooh you're driving a dead mans car!" kind of ghostyish a bit. No its not odd at all.
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Lowdown Dirty Rat
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

problem is if you contact one of them and find out that they never actually sold it, and it was stollen. then if they still want it you legally have to give it back no matter what you spent on it or how long its been Shocked

the guy gets his bus back 40+years latter and its in better condition then when he brought it new Laughing
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PostPosted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 4:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

malachai wrote:
Clara wrote:
malachai wrote:
its quite spooky that almost all of our cars were owned by people who are now dead, especially coming up to haloween, well I think it is anyway, I bet this kind of thing never comes up on 2003 volvo forums does it?

Well, if you have a car (or bus) that was first sold in, say, 1956, that was 52 years ago. Add ~20 to 50 + years to that to get the age of the original owner.
It doesn't seem so odd if they aren't around anymore.

So follow up any leads you have!


I didn't mean spooky as in odd I meant just like "woooh you're driving a dead mans car!" kind of ghostyish a bit. No its not odd at all.



Slightly off-tpoic, but I bought my first Tuxedo at an estate sale. Both the tux and pants fit. As well as the shoes. verrry nice tux and it came with nice florsheims. It was a cool thing to tell people; I bought a dead guy's tux and it fit perfectly!
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